Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) - What is it?

You may have heard the acronym TPM or the words "Total Productive Maintenance," but what do they mean? What is TPM and can it help you improve your bottom line?

TPM is defined as an equipment management program that uses equipment operator involvement in machine maintenance and in continuously improving machine operation. The person who best knows a machine, is also the person responsible for routine machine maintenance. The result is that problems are identified and repaired sooner, reducing the need to major overhauls and long maintenance outages. Machines run longer and are more productive.

A good way to learn more about TPM, and the benefits of TPM, is by reading a short booklet about TPM that is available free. Called An Introduction to TPM, this easy-to-read guide provides a comprehensive introduction to TPM and the benefits of TPM. It gives you the information you need to take the first step in evaluating whether TPM can be a benefit in your company or organization.

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Last we heard, our heroes at Dana Holding Corp. were battling the evil auspices of bankruptcy, looking for a protagonist -- a champion among men -- to wield his lean sword and rescue them from their inefficiency laden business practices.

Turn the page past Chapter 11, and Dana is now posting gains in the millions since Toyota veteran Gary Convis proved to be just the knight in shining armor they needed.

The automobile-components manufacturer and supplier pulled out of a $550-million loss from 2007 with a little lean manufacturing savvy from Convis, who was named Dana's CEO just months ago.

January through March of this year saw a posted profit of $685 million, compared with a $92-million loss posted this same time last year for the Toledo-based company.

Dana has been one of the few auto parts suppliers to emerge smiling in a landscape of declining vehicle production. The Fortune 500 company has been coping with the unprecedented increase in steel prices by saving in other areas.

"Our goal is to drive out waste in all the systems and business' process," Convis said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press.

In that vein, Dana has been taking its cues from a Toyota philosophy embedded deep in Convis' heart: Total Productive Maintenance. Aimed at streamlining processes and promoting worker autonomy, TPM's ultimate benefit is an increase in machine and equipment efficiency and longevity. Sometimes just bypassing costly repairs and extreme maintenance costs is enough to help out a company's bottom line. But in this case, Toyota implementation had to go a bit further.

Dana saw a total overhaul with a radical lean restructuring plan and an accounting boost. And with the addition of another Toyota veteran, VP of operation excellence Marty Bryant, Convis is poised to keep Dana functioning Toyota-style: lean and mean and barreling ahead. No more Chapter 11s for this fairytale. It's hard to say what's next in Dana's story, but with Convis running this Fortune 500 kingdom, peace should prevail for the time being as workers happily dance along autonomously whilst that great beast known as insolvency stays locked up.